Academics and Their Prose

Published: December 5, 1993

To the Editor:

I loved Patricia Nelson Limerick's essay. I showed it to my wife, who started reading it but never finished. "Too long," she said.

One trouble with the writings of academics that Ms. Limerick overlooked is that they tend to be too long. Perhaps that's because their teachers gave them so many assignments that asked them to write "at least" so-and-so many words. Why not "at most"? PETER KUGEL Chestnut Hill, Mass.